Pieris japonica Bonsai

I have always thought Pieris Japonica would make a good Bonsai tree. I have tried 3-4 times using nursery stock and have managed to kill all them with out even laying a tool on them. By mid summer they were dead and its all still a mystery to me as to why? I basically gave up on them.

International Bonsai Master Larry Jackel, Denver Botanic Gardens Curator of the Bonsai Pavilion showed up at one of his study groups with a Pieris Japonica he hauled back on an airplane from the Seattle area. The tree looked a little threadbare in leaves and ramification. The tree had deadwood in the middle of it and quite a bit of it. Larry Jackel just happens to be one of the best deadwood artists in the world. How lucky for the tree to have fallen into his hands. The first words out of my mouth was good luck trying to just keep it alive! Second bunch of words was to keep it in the cold greenhouse for the winter. Well here we are many years latter and the tree and not to mention Larry are both alive and well. The tree has been well taken care of has ramified a lot. The deadwood has been developed by Larry and you cannot tell he has touched the wood at all. The tree has been blooming now for the last serval years and the flowers are white and look like Lily of the Valley flowers. I did not notice any aroma coming from the flowers, others thought there was a slight scent. Continue scrolling down to see a gallery of the tree.

I have not been able to find a lot of great Bonsai trees on the internet. Mostly starter trees. I did find two trees that look pretty good. The Florida tree is really magnificent. See Gallery below.